Death at the Dinner Party
by The Hash Slinging Slasher
Summary: The lights flicker, Matsuda screams, and the host is dead! Who will catch the killer? L? Light? Near? Mello? A classic whodunnit, Death Note style! Three-shot.
1. Chapter 1

Soichiro stepped into the hotel room, carefully closing the door behind him.

"I have an announcement to make."

The members of the Investigation team turned from their various tasks, respectfully giving their attention to the Chief. L swiveled in his chair, halfway through a large, brightly colored lollipop.

"I received a call from Kaito Yammamoto."

"What did he say?" Light asked, wondering what a business tycoon would want with the Chief of Police.

"He invited us to a dinner party," said Soichiro, sounding as if he did not quite understand the words he was speaking.

Matsuda jumped in the air. "Woo Hoo! Par-tay!" He began to dance wildly.

L was not quite as enthusiastic. "Why?"

"I don't know, but it's a very hard offer to turn down. He's a very rich and influential man."

Biting his thumb, L replied, "I doubt that this is for social purposes..."

"Aw, c'mon Ryuuzaki, it'll be fun!" said Matsuda, temporarily pausing his dancing.

"I think we could all use a break," Light said. Everybody nodded in agreement.

The Investigation Team waited patiently for an answer as L poured himself some tea, stirred in several sugar cubes with his lollipop, then said, "I suppose it is only one night."

Matsuda hugged a wide-eyed L, and then began skipping around the room singing, "We're going to a party, we're going to a party, we're going to a party!"

"Formal attire will be necessary Ryuuzaki," said Soichiro.

"I don't think I own any formal attire..."

Just then, Watari's laptop flickered to life.

"I have taken the liberty of buying you some clothing that would be appropriate for tonight's event, Ryuuzaki."

"Thank you, old friend."

The laptop went black once more.

L sighed, obviously displeased. "I do not like parties."

* * *

"We're here," said Soichiro, pulling into the parking lot of a large, modern -style building. L's eyes darted back and forth, searching for any possible signs of a trap.

"Is there going to be dancing?" asked Matsuda, practically bouncing in his seat.

Aizawa rolled his eyes. "I don't know Matsuda..." They had been answering questions like this for the entire car ride.

Soichiro parked the car, and Light, Matsuda, Aizawa, and Mogi, along with the Chief, stepped out. They were all dressed similar in black suits, slacks, shirts, and ties, except for L, who was wearing a white suit, white shirt, white tie, and slacks.

"Don't you like color L?" Matsuda asked. He himself was wearing a bright pink tie.

"Not particularly, no." L said, as he poked the pavement with his bare toes as if testing the water in a pool.

Matsuda looked at L's feet, then shivered. "Aren't you feet cold?"

"Aren't your feet hot?"

Matsuda shut up after that.

When the group reached the entrance, security checked that they were on the guest list, than they were led to their table

The inside of the building, like the outside, could best be described as large and modern. The round tables were spread around on the bottom floor, and two spiraling staircases led up to a second floor that overlooked the first, so that it resembled a large balcony from below.

To Matsuda's dismay, there was no dance floor.

Immediately after the Investigation Team was seated, waiters brought the first course. Sushi, with crab legs and sea urchin.

L leaned closer to his plate, then lightly touched the sushi with his tongue. He immediately recoiled, and his tongue shot back into his mouth.

"Who are those seats for?" Aizawa asked, pointing to two empty seats at the other side of the table.

His question was immediately answered. Two very strange looking people sat down in the seats. The first was a young looking figure, with a head of white hair and white linen pajamas. The second appeared to be very angry, and was dressed entirely of black leather. He apparently did not like sushi, as he was crunching loudly on a bar of chocolate.

L eyed the chocolate bar enviously.

In an attempt to be friendly, Light put out his hand. The hand was stared at by the two strangers, until the one wearing pajama's shook it cautiously.

"I'm Yagami Light."

"I'm Near."

"I'm Mello," said the man next to Near.

_Codenames? That's strange..._ Light thought.

The Investigation Team sat in silence, the only noise being provided by chattering guests, and a quartet consisting of a cello, violin, viola, and harp that played softly in the corner.

"Ahem," the host, Kaito Yammamoto, clinked his spoon against his class. Once silence had fallen, he began.

"Gracious guests, I have brought you here today to-"

He was interrupted by total darkness. All the lights went out simultaneously, which caused a great portion of the female (and of course, Matsuda) guests to scream loudly.

It was over almost as soon as it had begun, and everybody was beginning to settle down when someone sitting next to Kaito Yammamoto shouted,

"He's dead!"

This caused twice the amount of commotion that the light failure had, and it definitely earned some very high pitched screams (of which Matsuda's was the highest).

The Investigation Team's police instincts kicked in, and they ran over to the head-table. Several people, presumably family members, were crying, while others were simply in shock. Kaito Yammamoto was dead alright, dead with a steak-knife through his heart. His white shirt was stained red, blood flowering out from the wound. It slowly dripped off the blade, falling to the floor with a faint _plip, plip, plip._

A single tear rolled down Mogi's cheek.

L lightly tapped Kaito's silver watch. "Five minutes off."

"I hardly think that matters now, Ryuuzaki," said Soichiro. But, his words were lost. L had entered the zone.

"Mogi, Aizawa, check all the plates at this table for the absence of a steak-knife. Soichiro, Matsuda, you check all the other tables," L ordered, still tapping the watch. "Hurry."

Light immediately realized L's plan. "Whoever doesn't have a steak-knife is the murderer, correct?"

L bit his thumb. "Hopefully, but I doubt that this will work. This was a very well executed assassination. I would be surprised if whoever did this hasn't thought this far ahead."

"Everybody has their steak-knife," said Soichiro.

"Same here," said Aizawa. He frowned. "Why did you check the other tables?"

"The knife could've been thrown."

"True," Light said, "But look at the angle that the knife is in. If it was thrown, it could have only been thrown from the right side of the room."

"But, if he was stabbed by somebody at his table, then the murderer could've put it in at whatever angle they wanted, trying to throw us off his trail," said Mello, the pleasant young man they had met at their table earlier. The Investigation Team was a little surprised to see him, but they quickly realized the sense of his statement, and moved on.

As the group thought about this, Matsuda stared at Aizawa intently.

"What?" Aizawa asked, even though he could see what was about to happen.

Matsuda pointed an accusing finger at Aizawa's face."Murderer! Why did you do it Aizawa! Confess!"

"Matsuda! Stop fooling around! This is serious." said Soichiro, giving Matsuda the death glare.

"Actually, it is not possible for any of us, including Mello or Near, to have been the murderer, as we were sitting on the left side of the room," said L.

"Sure... that's just what you want us to think, isn't it Aizawa?" Matsuda began to slowly walk away, casting suspicious glances over his shoulder every few steps.

"I suppose the logical thing to do now would be to start interrogating every on the right side of the room," said Light.

"Not yet. First we need to make sure that nobody leaves," said L. HIs lack of emotion made this statement sound rather sinister.

"How will we do that?" asked Aizawa, as the guests all seemed to be very disturbed and eager to leave.

L answered by reaching into Soichiro's pocket and pulling out his police badge. He held the police badge over his head.

"We have the situation under control," L said, loud enough so that everybody could hear him, "But, we must ask that nobody leave this building. If you leave, you will be treated as the murderer fleeing the scene of the crime, and you will be placed under arrest." L handed Soichiro his badge back. None of the guests made any attempt to leave from then on.

"Thank you," said Soichiro.

Suddenly, the room was swarming with waiters. They had apparently decided to continue on with course two. Matsuda returned to the table, and was wolfing down everything within reach.

Aizawa, Mogi, and Soichiro, rushed back to stop him, leaving the three geniuses alone with what had been Kaito Yammamoto.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Hope you liked this murder mystery, the two following chapters will contain more action (and more Near, don't pretend like you weren't wondering where he was) and hopefully more humor (for you people who are reading for the humor part of the humor/mystery). _**REVIEW! **_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Death Note, and I do not own any of the characters from Death Note.


	2. Chapter 2

"This was delivered to us by a man named Watari. He said it was for you," said a waiter, who had arrived at the investigation Team's table with a triple deck trolley of assorted sweets.

"Thank you," said L. He began to lick the chocolate off of an extremely large donut.

"What? No fair!" whined a young boy who had watched the trolley come with a look of murderous envy.

"No one said you couldn't bring your own food," said L through a mouthful of chocolate cheesecake. He gazed over his field of confections, and finally decided on a plate of cookies. He picked up the plate, and began to pop them into his mouth like so much popcorn.

Soichiro , who had learned to expect such behavior from L, simply asked, "Are you going to investigate with us?"

"No," finished with his cookies, L started on a box of pastries. Soichiro watched him for several seconds, then shook his head and left.

* * *

Light had decided to start his investigating with the table that Kaito Yammamoto had been at, as he thought it most likely that he had been stabbed. Although the table was not small enough for him to have been stabbed by the majority of the people sitting at it, the person on either side of him could have done it easily. The person to Kaito's left was his wife, and to his right was the Vice President of his company.

"Okay, we'll use the good-cop bad-cop routine. I'll be the bad-cop, and you'll be the good-cop. Unless you want to be the bad-cop, which you would probably be better at because your bigger and more threatening..."whispered Matsuda as he and Aizawa approached the Vice President.

"Matsuda, I don't think-"

But they had already arrived, and Aizawa was forced to stop as to not be overheard. The Vice President was a tall, thin faced, handsome man, who wore a stylish suit and red tie. He appeared calm, cool, and collected as he sipped his bubbling champagne.

"I suppose you are going to ask me some questions?"

"Yeah..." said Matsuda, slipping on a pair of sunglasses in an attempt to make himself look tougher, "What's your name?"

"Shoseki,"

"And where were you at five o' clock tonight?"

"Right here..." Shoseki raised his eyebrows.

"Very suspicious... do you know that there was a murder right here a little while ago?"

"Yes, I am aware of that," said Shoseki, who, surprisingly, was not cracking under Matsuda's invasive questions.

"And are you also aware, Mr. Wiseguy, of the fact that because Yammamoto is dead, you will become President of his company?"

"I can see how you would naturally suspect me, but I assure you, I had nothing to do with it."

"Do you know of anybody that could've done this?" asked Aizawa, intervening before things could get out of hand.

"No."

"What was your relationship with Kaito like?" asked Aizawa.

"We were never close friends, but we respected each other on a business level."

"Which would make it easier for you to kill him!" Matsuda shouted, leaning across the table to look Shoseki in the eye. He opened his mouth to say more, but instead pulled himself back up and looked at Aizawa.

"But... if you didn't know Kaito at all, it would be even easier."

Aizawa sighed. "Matsuda, I have already explained to you that because we were on the left side of the room-"

"Like _that_ proves anything!"

"Ahem," Shoseki cleared his throat loudly, "I can see that you have some internal problems to deal with here. If you need me again, feel free to ask any question you like," the man walked away, as if their lack of organization had somehow insulted him.

""Hmmm..." Aizawa sat down, as Matsuda ranted next to him," He doesn't seem like the murderer, but there's no doubt that he would benefit the most from Kaito's death." He watched Shoseki begin to chat with some stiff looking business-men. Surely it had to be him...

* * *

Light had not chosen to question Kaito's wife, Yaeko, because he thought that she was the most likely suspect, but because he thought he could get more information out of Shoseki after he had been shook up by Matsuda a little bit.

Yaeko was extremely pretty, with sharp features and an even sharper red dress. Her mascara was running for obvious reasons.

"You're accusing_ me_ of murdering my husband?" she demanded.

"I am not accusing you," Light lied, "I just want to ask you a few questions regarding-"

"I don't know anything! Why don't you just call some real cops!"

"We are real cops," Light said softly in a desperate attempt to sound sympathetic, "We can catch your husband's murderer if-"

Yaeko slapped Light across the face.

Light pulled his head back into focus, messaging his cheek. "I'm just-"

She slapped him again, and this time it really stung. Yaeko shot him a threatening look, then, with a wave of her silky black hair, spun around and stalked away.

Light continued to message his cheek. _This is going to be harder than I thought..._

* * *

_Hmmm... Everything matches up._ thought Near. He was on the overhanging second floor, looking down on the guests. He looked back at the guest list he had borrowed, then back at the party-goers. His original plan had been to find out if there was anyone in the building who hadn't been counted, because this would mean that they had snuck in, which would mean that they didn't want anybody to know that they were there, which would be _extremely_ suspicious. But, seeing as everyone was on the guest list, the murderer was simply blending in with the crowd. That meant that Near was going to put plan B into action. Plan be was much more fun... for Near.

* * *

"Here you go ma'am, enjoy," Mako said with a smile. _Service with a Smile_. That was what the boss wanted.

As Mako (who was a waiter, in case you didn't pick up on that) handed out the last plates of the third course, he noticed his friend Hiraku by the kitchen.

"Do you feel bad about what we did?" Mako asked jokingly.

"Oh yeah. Absolutely horrible." Hiraku laughed. "It's not that big of a deal."

"Oh yeah? You just wait until Chef finds out." then, seeing Hiraku's look of skepticism, he added, "Which he will."

Hiraku looked at his watch. "My shift ends in two hours. I'll be out of here before he knows what happened."

"No one can escape from Chef's horrible wrath!" said Mako.

They both laughed, then Mako walked off to wash his hands. Washing your hands between every single trip was annoying, but better than being sued by some germophobe. He pushed open the door to the washroom.

Standing before him was a very deranged looking man with long blonde hair. His eye twitched violently, and he was trying to suppress what would have been a very, very scary smile.

"AA-"

Mello hit him soundly over the head with a crowbar, and he fell to the ground. With the speed and efficiency of a veteran Mafia member, Mako was quickly bound and gagged.

Mello emerged from the bathroom wearing a waiter's uniform that was surprisingly similar to the one Mako had been wearing. Mello was about to go and fulfill his new duties, when he remembered a very crucial part of his plan. He pulled out a sticky note, quickly scribbled something on it, then stuck it to the door.

The note read, _Out of order_

* * *

L had eaten his way through the first deck of his trolley of sweets, and was having a tea break before he started on the second. He was bringing his cup back down when all of sudden, he snatched up his saucer and threw it like a Frisbee between the second and third decks.

"Ow!' a little boy cried (the same one who had been whining before, L realized), rolling out from under the trolley, sucking his bruised knuckle.

A look of great curiosity was in L's owlish eyes, "How did you get under my trolley?"

Eager to explain his feet of skill, the boy got to his feet and replied, "When there were a bunch of people walking by, I hid behind them until they were close enough, then I dived."

"I was watching those people for that specific reason. You must have-"

"Waited until you were taking a sip of tea so the cup would block your view of the floor?" the boy beamed.

"You're much smarter than most boys your age."

"I know," the boy said smugly.

"You must also really enjoy sugar."

The boy licked his lips. "Yes."

"I could give you some," L took a sip of his tea to build suspense, and then finished, "For a price."

The boy began digging in the pockets of his slacks, "How much?"

"I was thinking of a trade," L pointed across the room, "You see that man over there? His name is Light Yagami. I need you to observe him for me."

The boy followed L's finger, then turned back, "How come?"

"I believe he is up to something."

The boys eyes lit up, "Does this have something to do with the murder?"

L looked away, and bit his thumb, "Possibly."

The boy gasped," Do you think... do you think he's the-"

"I don't know. That's what _you_ need to find out"

The boy, looking as though he could have a heart attack at any moment, rolled under a table and was gone.

* * *

The Investigation Team returned to their table in defeat. Light had sent Matsuda to go get him some ice, partially because his cheek stung like crazy, and partially because he wanted Matsuda away so he could think.

"Well, Shoseki is still the primary suspect," said Aizawa, "But we couldn't get anything out of him."

Soichiro frowned. "I didn't come across too many people that-"

Panting, Matsuda ran up to the table."Guys! Come look at this!"

The Investigation Team followed reluctantly (apart from an intrigued L), knowing full well that Matsuda had slight tendency to exaggerate. Matsuda led them up the stairs, down a hallway, and into what looked like a second kitchen. It was dimly lit, and a single faucet dripped in the corner. Written on the wall in thin, spidery handwriting were the words: _The one in white has struck tonight._

All eyes turned to L, in his white shirt, tie, and suit jacket. He continued to stare wide eyed at the writing, silently, as if it was in some strange foreign language.

"And the plot thickens," Matsuda whispered.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I hope you liked this chapter more than the first one, because I definitely liked it more than the first one. Please _**REVIEW**_ with comments, criticism, praise, etc.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Death Note or any Death Note characters.


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